Explorations of Disney's Haunted Mansion. Ruminations and revelations concerning the history and artistry of the Disney parks' richest and most eccentric masterpiece. Based on the MiceChat discussion board phenomenon, "Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion Effect."

Things You're Just Supposed to Know

Most of the time, Long-Forgotten assumes that readers are already familiar with basic facts

about the Haunted Mansion. If you wanna keep up with the big boys, I suggest you check out

first of all the website, Doombuggies.com. After that, the best place to go is Jason Surrell's book,

Thursday, November 15, 2012

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Just a quick post to commemorate Long-Forgotten's 500,000th visitation by unseen guests (that's you). Two and a half years it's been, close to 100 posts, and half a million viewings. Who'da thunk it? I want to say thank you to all readers and especially to the commenters. The blog's reception has been consistently positive and intelligent. To date there have been no more than two or three nasty comments that had to be deleted before they saw the light of day (or dark of night, or whatever twilight zone we're inhabiting here). Mansionites are a classy lot. Breeding will out, as they say. *taps silver box, pinches some snuff*

The pace will continue to be slower than it was the first year. For awhile it's been about one post per month, but peering into my crystal ball, I can't promise you even that in future. *sneezes* I would rather the posts be infrequent but of good quality than let the blog degenerate into a stream of trivia for trivia's sake. Don't worry; there are still many stories to tell. *sneezes again* Even as I type, I've got two or three posts in the can or getting there.

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So as not to entirely disappoint those of you who came here not for self-congratulatory

speeches but for a fresh slice of juicy Mansionology, here's a light snack to hold you over till dinner.

Let's go to the Séance Circle and take a look around. Funny, even though it's a séance we are witnessing, it doesn't look much like a séance down here at floor level. Where's the ring of people touching hands? This is what a proper séance looks like:

I blush to point out something that never really occurred to me until recently but which no doubt was immediately self-evident to many of you. On the chance that other Forgottenistas have also overlooked it, let me point out that WE represent that circle. Once you notice it, it's ridiculously obvious. The old show script used by the Ghost Host on the "Story and Song" souvenir album makes it even clearer: "We're about to participate in a séance," he intones. Note that it's always been called the Séance Circle, not the Séance Room, and perhaps this best explains why our "sympathetic vibrations" give a serious boost to Madame Leota's efforts.

One reason I missed it, I suppose, is that the medium in this case is not sitting at the table like we are. The comic irony is that Madame Leota is herself a ghostly manifestation. She's opening the doors from the other side, you might say. The other comic irony is that she says "wherever they're at," and no one seems to mind.

Speaking of comics, Leota may be unique, but ghostly manifestations
in the middle of the séance table are not unknown to pop culture.

Congratulations! Despite only having visited the Phantom Manor, your blog has lived in my *must read* folder for a good while now. Fantastic work - long may it continue (and let it never be forgotten!.. *cough* ... is this thing on?).

I originally stumbled across this blog while looking for pictures of the stretching portraits; I think I read the whole archive that same day. I love the quality of this place, and if lower quantity is what it takes to maintain that, you'll hear no complaints from me. Congratulations on half a million visits!

The previous post is the April-December one, but for an hour or so I accidentally had a post-in-progress up (or Blogger messed up, I don't know who's to blame). It got 3 views while it was up. Maybe that's what you're referring to?

I learn something new every time I come here! I never would've noticed that Leota says "wherever they're at," despite being one of the mansion's ghosts. She might just be reading that line from her book, or it might be an ollyoxall call.

Of course, I over-think everything, so my brain's first response to this revelation was, What if Leota's not actually a ghost? It's something I've considered before.

Blogger is being a booger. It says this comment has been published, but it hasn't. I still have it in an email notification, though: "Please kind Sir, Bring on the busts! I must know who they are! I must know about the broken one that I remember being whole at one time.... or is it just my imagination hmmmm?" by Unknown.

"Uncle Theodore" has always been "broken." It's even that way on the blueprints. Left to right, they're Rollo Rumkin, Uncle Theodore, Cousin Algernon, Ned Nub, and Phineas P. Pock. And yes, those are their official names.

Taking a look at the Little Mermaid frescos in the queue at New Fantasyland and it seems to be more closely related to the spirit (heh) of Haunted Mansion than Haunted Mansion's own new queue. Thoughts?

You're right, we ARE part of the seance circle! I think I knew this subconsciously all these years, but once you came out and said it, it just all made sense. This is the only point in the ride where you can see people in the other buggies, isn't it? That's a big clue right there, and a welcome communal nod before going back to shielded solitary blissfulness again.

Happy 500,000th visitations! May there many more, because there's always room for more. I never thought about how we are the seance circle. It's also one of the few times the ghosts interact directly with us (along with the Ghost Host, the Raven and the HHGs). Perhaps Madame Leota can help me make my own manifestation possible as I've been lurking here for awhile now (i.e. How do I make a profile to to comment on this blog? I'm little tired of being an Anonymous Mansionite).

Thanks a million, Dan! I'm a timid spirit by nature, but this blog has enough sympathetic vibrations to help me materialize (there are many forums and blogs out there that are scary enough in their cruelties that the various Mansions seem like a safe haven). By the way, I'm the one who provided the info on the Frankenweenie graveyard/pet cemeteries connection and the conversation concerning the king ghosts. Again, thanks for telling me how to make a profile, I'm on here so much I might as well come out to socialize to the fullest.